


Shiratorizawa: Ushijima's Garden

by SleepDeprivedIdiot__xoxo



Series: Tales of Haikyuu [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Falling In Love, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:28:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepDeprivedIdiot__xoxo/pseuds/SleepDeprivedIdiot__xoxo
Summary: Ushijima’s life was a meticulously kept garden. There were no extraneous, cluttering flowers, and no choking or growth hindering weeds. Everything was exactly the way it should have been, and the boy should’ve been more than happy about it. But he wasn’t. Because with every day that passed, he felt like something was missing, but what it was was lost on him.
Relationships: Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi
Series: Tales of Haikyuu [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023691
Comments: 5
Kudos: 57





	Shiratorizawa: Ushijima's Garden

_Year 1._

It was the start of high school, and Ushijima walked out from the dorms of Shiratorizawa with his head held high and his shoulders rolled back. The air was crisp and there was a sweetness in the wind from falling leaves and flowers in their last bloom. He strode forwards with a strong determination towards the school’s gym where the tryouts for the boy’s volleyball team were being held.

The boy had been recruited by Shiratorizawa in his last year of middle school and, despite his atrocious grades, he found himself enrolled in the highschool by the start of summer break. And because he had been recruited, he already had a place on the team. But he still decided to go to the tryouts and meet his future, potential teammates.

The sounds of volleyballs and shouts of the players could be heard from outside the gym. When he got to the closed doors of the building, he paused for a moment and sucked in a deep breath, taking in the familiar sounds and letting them wash over him. As he exhaled, he stepped forward, slid open the gym doors, gave the standard greeting, and was quickly called over by the coach.

“First-years, gather round!” the elderly man shouted. He didn’t have a whistle to blow, but he still managed to capture the attention of every boy in the gym. The group of first-years, including Ushijima, all gathered around, and the coach stared down each boy with a gaze that could make the manliest of men quaver. “We’ll hold practice matches for the rest of the morning so I can gage each of your skills. By the end of the day, I will inform everyone who made it and,” he paused for a moment and looked at each boy before finishing, “who didn’t.”

There was a collective “yessir” that resounded from the potential new players, and the coach split everyone up into different teams. Everyone began walking off onto the courts, when the elderly man stopped Ushijima.

“Wakatoshi,” he started, staring intently at the boy. “You’re already on the team, but I need you to play with the other first-years to make even teams.”

“Okay,” Ushijima responded with a single nod. The coach gave him a look of satisfaction then pointed to a group of boys that were missing a player. Ushijima slowly made his way over to the boys and gave all of them a solemn nod before moving into position as a wing spiker-- the ace position.

“Well, hello to you too.” Ushijima heard one of the boys mutter. He looked and saw him standing next to a snickering boy as the two of them moved into the back row. Ushijima quirked an eyebrow at the interaction, but couldn’t find it in himself to care enough to retort. He turned back to face the net, and when he did, he caught a glimpse of a red-haired boy furrowing his eyebrows towards the ace.

The match was unimpressive at best and an absolute disaster at worst. The two boys from the back row on Ushijima’s team missed the easiest of returns and couldn’t set a ball worth a damn, and several boys on the other team fared no better. But, Ushijima did see two players that were worth noting. One was a silver-haired boy on the opposing team who played as their main setter, and the other was the red-haired boy on his own team who had some of the most impressive blocks that Ushijima had seen.

After a few more round robin matches with switched up players on every team, the coach called for the end of practice and ordered the third-year players to show the first-years how to clean up the gym. Ushijima silently went around the gym gathering up the stray balls and plopping them into the cart that he was pulling around. Suddenly, a ball was tossed into the cart and Ushijima looked to see the red-haired boy grinning at him.

“Thanks,” Ushijima monotonously stated.

“No problem,” the red-head replied with a peculiar spring in his voice. The two boys stared at each other for a moment, an awkward silence falling between them. Not that Ushijima would have noticed with all of his (in)abilities to pick up on social cues. Without saying a word, Ushijima went back to picking up balls, noticing from the corner of his eye that the red-head was jogging throughout the gym also picking up balls before running over and dropping them in Ushijima’s cart.

“You know,” the red-head started, placing the last ball into the cart. “You don’t talk very much.” Ushijma quirked an eyebrow at the boy as he started to roll the cart towards the storage closet.

“Is that bad?” Ushijima deadpanned, making the red-head chuckle.

“No, just wondering why. Are you shy?” Ushijima furrowed his eyebrows at the question, reflecting deeply about why he wasn’t much of a talker. When he finally came up with what he believed was a good answer, he turned to the red-head but was immediately distracted by something that a group of boys near the storage room had said.

“I can’t believe they made us tryout with the Ushijima. I mean, anyone would look bad if they played next to him.” The boys all had their backs to Ushijima and the red-head and very obviously didn’t notice their presence as they kept talking. The ace noticed that two of the four boys were the two that he played the first practice match with.

“Did you hear that rumor that he only got into Shiratorizawa because of volleyball?” one of the boys on Ushijima’s first team said.

“What? No, what rumor?” A different boy asked, his eyes wide with intrigue.

“Yeah, I heard it too. Apparently he failed his entrance exams but the school made an exception for him because he’s such a good player,” the other boy that was on Ushijima’s first team replied with a smirk. “I guess he’s all brawns and no brains.” The three other boys snickered at the comment.

“Speaking of getting in as an exception,” one of the boys started, “what about that black guy? Leo? And the weird red-head?” The way the boy addressed the two players stirred up a very rare annoyance in Ushijima.

“Reon and Tendou,” another boy corrected. “And yeah, there’s no way that they’re smart enough to have gotten in by themselves. Especially Tendou. Not to mention, there’s a rumor that in middle school he got caught in the storage room with a --”

“Excuse me,” Ushijima interrupted, his annoyance having bubbled over at that point. He stepped towards the boys and made them all jump and part like the red-sea. They all had looks of horror and embarrassment on their faces, and as Ushijima glared down at them, they all shrank back. “The rest of the gym still needs cleaning up.”

“Yessir!” the four boys shouted, making Ushijima quirk his eyebrow in confusion.

Ushijima watched the four boys scamper away, and, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the red-haired boy come up to stand beside him. He glanced at him and furrowed his eyebrows at the shocked but amazed look on the red-head’s face. Suddenly, Ushijima remembered that he never gave an answer to the boy’s question.

“I talk whenever I need to,” Ushijima stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

“What?” the red-haired boy said as he stared at Ushijima in stunned confusion.

“What you asked before about why I don’t talk. I do, but usually only whenever I need to.”

The red haired boy gawked at Ushijima, and the ace stared blankly back at the boy, the annoyance in Ushijima having been quelled by the dispersal of the group of gossiping boys. After a few moments, the red-haired boy slowly smiled, then broke out into laughter.

“You’re pretty interesting,” the red-head said as he calmed down. “My name’s Tendou Satori.”

“Ushijima Wakatoshi.”

“Oh, cool!” Tendou exclaimed as the two pushed the volleyball cart into the storage room and walked back out. “Your name sounds like a samurai’s.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome!” Ushijima watched in slight amusement as Tendou gave a goofy, lopsided grim. Ushijima gave a small smile back, and the two continued to help take down the volleyball equipment and wipe down the floor. Tendou chattered the whole time, and Ushijima listened in silence with wrapped interest. At the end of practice, the coach gave all the boys a “thank you” for trying out before reminding them that the names of those who passed the tryouts would be posted outside the gym after school. With that, the boys all bid their farewells and headed out of the gym back towards the dorms to shower, change, and ready themselves for classes.

On the way back, Ushijima met two of the other first years who tried out: Semi Eita and Reon Ohira. Ushijima recognized Semi as the talented setter he played against in the first match and Reon from the conversation the four boys had by the storage room. The three boys walked back to the dorms together, Semi and Reon chatting with each other and Ushijima talking only when a question was addressed to him. And when they arrived, Ushijima suddenly noticed that Tendou had not walked back with them.

The rest of the school day was uneventful. Many of the classes just ran through the syllabus for the year, and those who went into lectures only recapped what the students should have already learned and remembered from middle school. Ushijima sat quiet the whole day, the only word he said being “present”. But it wasn’t unusual for the boy to not speak. He was, afterall, a man of few words. When the school day finally ended, Ushijima made his way back to the dorms to get ready for afternoon practice. Along the way, he saw Tendou walking towards the dorms, his headphones in his ears and his gaze appearing far away. But when he noticed Ushijima, his face seemed to light up and he quickly pulled his headphones out.

“Ushijima-kun!” Tendou exclaimed as Ushijima walked up to him.

“Tendou-san.”

“Oh, no, absolutely not.” Ushijima quirked an eyebrow at the boy and Tendou gave a playful laugh. “Tendou-san is far too formal. Just call me Tendou. Or,” Tendou smirked, “Tendou-sama if you really want to add an honorific.” The last part of what Tendou said was very obviously a teasing comment, but, holy shit did Ushijima not catch it at all.

“Are you a high ranking official? Apologies, I didn’t know, Tendou-sama,” Ushijima responded monotonously with a slight bow of his head. Tendou stared at Ushijima with a look of disbelief and an amused, awkward smile on his slightly parted lips.

“It… it was a joke. I’m not actually a high ranking official,” Tendou responded with an incredulous chuckle.

“Oh,” Ushijima replied in confusion. “Then, it was a funny joke,” Ushijima stated, staring blankly at Tendou.

“Right,” Tendou once again responded with an incredulous chuckle. The two boys stood still in an extremely awkward silence (not that Ushijima noticed), until the ace finally spoke.

“We need to change.” The two boys started walking towards the dorm again and, after a few steps, Tendou spoke again.

“You know,” he started, clasping his hands behind his back, tilting his head back, and letting it loll to the side to look at Ushijima. “Normally I would think that you were messing with me, but you really thought I was a government official for a second, didn’t you?”

“Why would I assume that you were lying?”

“Ouch, that makes me seem like an asshole.” Tendou gave a laugh, but Ushijima felt a prick of guilt.

“I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Then, in a small and quiet voice, Tendou added, “I’m used to it.” But Ushijima heard it. He might not have been good at catching jokes or reading social cues, but he was pretty good at noticing changes in people’s mood.

“I’m just not very good at catching jokes,” Ushijima clarified in an attempt to alleviate whatever the red-head was feeling. “My family tells me that I don’t have a great sense of humor.”

“You could’ve fooled me,” Tendou replied with an amused smirk. Ushijima gave a small smile. Sarcasm was definitely something he knew about from all of his older brother’s teasing. The two boys walked into the dorms together, Tendou once again chattering the whole while as Ushijima quietly listened. It turned out that Tendou’s room was just across the hall from Ushijima’s, and Tendou commented about “what a small world” it was. He then had to explain to Ushijima what that phrase meant.

After the two had changed, they made their way to the gym together. Along the way, Tendou talked about school and how his day had gone and how he was excited about his film class. As the gym came into view, Tendou suddenly stopped talking and Ushijima looked to see that he was over by the flower bed next to the gym, staring intently at one of the flowers. The ace furrowed his eyebrows and came to stand next to Tendou.

“I haven’t seen this flower before,” Tendou commented, glancing up at Ushijima and pointing to a light, purple flower sitting in a swath of green leaves and surrounded by other light, purple flowers.

“It’s a Myrtle,” Ushijima stated. “They’re native to Southern Europe. People also call them Periwinkles sometimes.” Tendou whipped his head around and gawked at the tall boy, making Ushijima quirk an eyebrow. “Am I wrong? I don’t think I am.”

“I--,” Tendou slowly started, standing up straight. “How did you know that?”

“My mother owns a flower shop and I help out over breaks.”

“So you just know what kind of flower this is?”

“Yes, they are pretty popular during the spring.”

“Do you know anything else about flowers?”

“Yes.”

“Like what?”

“What do you want to know?”

“What’s this one?” Tendou asked, pointing to a set of pink flowers planted in front of the Periwinkles.

“Pink pansies. It’s a wildflower found in Europe and Western Asia.”

“And those ones?” Tendou pointed to a collection of wild looking flowers a little ways in the distance with an excited look on his face.

“Birds of paradise. They’re native to South Africa.” Ushijima stared at the flowers for a moment, then gave a soft smile before adding, “They’re actually my favorite.”

“Damn,” Tendou breathed. Ushijima looked at him and saw that he was also smiling. “You’re like a walking flower encyclopedia. That’s so cool!”

“Is it?”

“Yeah!” Then, Tendou gave a smirk with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You must be pretty popular with the ladies, huh?” Ushijima furrowed his eyebrows as he thought about Tendou’s statement.

“I think I have more male admirers than female.”

“What?” Tendou asked, his eyes wide and his eyebrows furrowed.

“From volleyball.”

“Oh,” Tendou replied with a sigh and exasperated chuckle. “I was asking if you were popular with girls because you know so much about flowers.”

“Why would that make me popular?”

“Because it--- actually, you know what, nevermind,” Tendou laughed. Ushijima quirked an eyebrow in confusion, but didn’t respond back. The two boys made their way to the gym, Tendou complimenting Ushijima about his flower knowledge and vowing to find a flower that Ushijima couldn’t identify. Silently, Ushijima welcomed the challenge as it ignited the stupidly competitive part of his personality.

The roster for those who made the team were posted on the doors of the gym, and Ushijima noted that Tendou, Semi, Reon, and two other first years were the only ones who made the cut. The boys all gave their congratulations to each other before heading into the gym for their first practice as a team with Ushijima at the head of the group of boys like the natural born leader he was despite his lacking a sense of humor and inability to read a room.

Practice went by in a flash, and, about an hour later, Ushijima found himself at the local convenience store with Semi and Reon, grabbing some ice cream as celebration for making the team. Normally, he would head straight home after practice to do his homework, but he made an exception this time to get to know his new teammates. Well, his new teammates minus Tendou.

“Why didn’t Tendou come with us?” Semi asked, taking out a coffee flavored ice cream pouch from the freezer.

“He said he was tired,” Reon responded, grabbing an orange creamsicle for himself. “But we should all get together at some point.” Ushijima listened half-heartedly as Semi agreed, instead focusing his attention on whether he wanted the vanilla or chocolate ice cream cone. He settled on chocolate.

“Should we get an ice cream for Tendou?” Reon asked. “We could drop it off for him at the dorm.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Semi replied while looking back into the cooler. “Do we know what room he’s in?”

“He lives across from me,” Ushijima responded robotically. Semi and Reon looked at him, a little shocked that the boy had actually spoken without being directly addressed. “I can take it to him.”

“Alrighty then,” Reon replied with a smile. “What should we get him?” Ushijima furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, debating whether they should take a risk and get him a flavored ice cream, or stick with something neutral like vanilla. Vanilla.

Ushijima made to pick up the vanilla ice cream cone, but as he lifted it up, he saw a strawberry shortcake ice cream. He wasn’t sure why, but he suddenly decided to pick that one instead. The boys all paid for their ice creams and left the store to walk back to the school. While eating their ice cream, Semi and Reon conversed the whole way about volleyball and how excited they were to be on such a well-known and highly ranked team. Ushijima’s attention waned in and out of their conversation as he wondered what possessed him to get the strawberry ice cream. His own ice cream went untouched.

Before long, the boys all bid their farewells as they headed into their own rooms at the dorms. Ushijima stood for a moment outside of Tendou’s door, and as he was about to knock, the door flew open, making both Ushijima and a shower ready Tendou jump.

“Jesus Christ,” Tendou breathed, clutching his heart and doubling over slightly as his shower caddy dangled from his other hand. “I think you just gave me a heart attack.”

“I’m sorry, should I take you to the nurse?” Ushijima asked with slight concern in his voice.

“What?” Tendou replied, standing up straight with a look of utter confusion on his face. Then he broke out into a smile and gave a light laugh. “No, it was just an expression.”

“Oh. That’s a strange expression. Heart attacks are very serious medical conditions.”

“I think I need to give you some lessons on slang and jokes,” Tendou laughed. “Did you need something?” As he asked the question, Tendou quirked his eyebrow at the plastic bag in Ushijima’s hand.

“Ah,” the ace said as he pulled out the strawberry shortcake ice cream. “Here, this is for you.” Tendou hesitantly took the ice cream from the boy’s hand and stared at it as if it were a precious gem. “Congratulations on making the team. I look forward to playing with you for the rest of high school.”

“Thanks,” Tendou whispered, still looking at the ice cream in his hands.

“Do you not like that flavor? I wasn’t sure what to get you,” Ushijima said as he suddenly started to regret not going with his original plan of getting the neutral vanilla.

“No,” Tendou quickly replied, looking at the boy and giving a warm smile. “Strawberry’s my favorite, thank you.” Ushijima gave an approving nod, relieved that his little gamble paid off. Not that it was really a gamble, it only felt like one to the very conservative boy. There was a moment of silence as Tendou went back to staring at his ice cream before Ushijima spoke.

“I’ll see you at practice tomorrow morning, have a nice evening.” Tendou looked up at the boy and gave a small smile.

“See you.”

Ushijima gave a curt nod then turned, opened the door to his own room, walked into the room, and closed the door behind him with a soft click. He set the bag on his desk and pulled out his ice cream before taking a seat on his bed. As he sat, he popped off the lid of the ice cream cone and took a bite (because he was a psychopath who bit ice cream instead of licking it). And as he ate it, he gave himself a small smile for getting the right ice cream for Tendou.   
_______

_Year 2._

“What about this one?”

Ushijima leaned over and looked at the phone screen that Tendou had turned towards the ace. They were both sitting on a grassy hill in the school’s courtyard eating their lunch while waiting for Semi and Reon to join them. It had been over a year since Ushijima met and befriended Tendou, and in that time Tendou hadn’t once managed to find a flower that Ushijima could not identify.

“It’s a honeysuckle. Commonly found in North America and Eurasia,” Ushijima stated as he looked at the pale yellow and deep pink picture of flowers.

“Damn, okay then, what about this one?” Tendou flipped to a new picture on his phone and showed it to Ushijima.

“Peoni, found in Asia, Europe, and Western North America,” Ushijima immediately replied when he saw the baby pink, puff-ball of a flower.

“You know,” Tendou started as he pulled his phone back. He looked at Ushijima with a serious face and Ushijima quirked an eyebrow in confusion. “I’m starting to think that you’re just making up these answers then saying it with authority to make me believe that you know what you’re talking about.”

“Why would I do something like that?”

“Because I would never suspect it!” Tendou exclaimed, throwing his head back and laughing. “I’ll bet that the Mr. Goody-Two Shoes Ushijima is all just an act so I can be tricked by your real, bad-boy self!”

“Tendou,” Ushijima started in a very serious tone with an equally serious look on his face. Tendou stiffened a little as Ushijima continued, “That makes no sense. Are you feeling well?” At that, Tendou gave a great sigh, his shoulders slumping forwards and his head falling and shaking incredulously.

“Joke, Ushijima-kun. It was a joke.”

“Oh,” Ushijima started, sitting up straight and bringing his legs into a criss-cross position. “Sorry.”

“Damn, we were on a roll too!” Tendou laughed. “We managed to go a full 48 hours with you getting every single joke I made. I think that’s a new record!”

“No, we went 51 hours,” Ushijima corrected in a determined tone. “Last week.”

“Are you serious? Do you actually keep track of that?” Tendou gawked at the boy.

“Of course, how else would I know that I’m improving?”

“You’re…” Tendou started with an amused and incredulous smirk. “You’re something else, you know that?” Ushijima stared intensely at Tendou and an awkward silence fell between the two boys as Tendou gave a nervous chuckle.

“Was that another joke?” Ushijima finally asked.

“Ah,” Tendou started with a sheepish chuckle as he brought up his hand to rub the back of his neck. “Yeah, it was a joke.” Ushijima gave a satisfied nod, pride welling up in his chest from successfully managing to guess the “joke”. 

“Hey, guys.” Ushijima looked up and saw Semi and Reon walking towards them, their own lunches in their hands. “Sorry we’re late, we got caught by some of the new first-years.”

“Ah, the cute little first-years,” Tendou commented in almost a dreamy tone. He leaned back on his hands as Reon and Semi took a seat on the grass in front of Tendou and Ushijima. “What did they want?”

“They were wondering if we all could go out to dinner tonight for some team bonding,” Reon replied with a smile as he opened his bento. “I told them yes, so if you guys are free you should come too.”

“Oof, sorry,” Tendou responded before Ushijima could. “I need to study for a test tomorrow.”

“We don’t have a test tomorrow,” Ushijima stated, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion at Tendou. “I think you have your dates mixed up.”

“Oh,” Tendou said with a nervous chuckle, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his head. “I guess I do.”

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” Semi offered with a smile. “We can do something else with the first-years later.”

“I’ll come,” Ushijima deadpanned. Semi and Reon’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at his acceptance, and the both gave an incredulous smile. “It would be good for the first-years to get to know us better.”

“Well, alright then,” Leon disbelievingly responded, still smiling like he had just gotten splashed with ice water. “We’re meeting at the school gates around 7.” Then, Reon looked to a blank faced Tendou. “Do you want to come?” Tendou stared for a moment before looking away.

“Nah, I think I’ll just stay home tonight,” he quietly replied. Ushijima furrowed his eyebrows at Tendou’s sudden change in demeanor, then was doubly confused when Tendou whipped back around and started chatting animatedly with Semi and Reon about all the ice-breakers they should use on the first-years. The rest of lunch was filled with laughter and light conversation, but Ushijima kept his focus on Tendou the whole time, watching him carefully and noting the brief, almost non-existent moments when Tendou’s face would fall and his lips would carry a small frown.

After lunch, Ushijima had waited for Tendou at the doors of the dorm to walk to afternoon practice together like they always did. But as the minutes ticked by, Ushijima started to get a little restless at the possibility that both boys might be late. Finally unable to stand the anxiety of potentially being late, Ushijima made to walk back into the dorms to get Tendou when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out to see a message from the boy.

 _Hey! I’m not feeling well so I’m going to miss practice. I told the coach already so no need to worry!_ \-- Tendou. Ushijima furrowed his eyebrows and frowned.

 _Hello, Tendou. I’m sorry to hear that you’re not feeling well. I’ll stop by later to check in on you. Best, Ushijima_ \-- Ushijima.

 _Oh, wow, okay. I’m going to add “texting” to your list of things I need to work on with you_ \-- Tendou. A second later, another text from Tendou came.

 _You don’t have to check in, I’m okay! Just have fun with the first-years_ \-- Tendou. At that, Ushijima slightly pursed his lips in a frown.

 _Tendou, it is no problem at all. You are my friend and I would like to make sure you are okay. Best, Ushijima_ \-- Ushijima. There was no response.

Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Ushijima gave one last glance at the dorms as the tiniest feeling of concern pricked his heart. He figured that it was because he was worried about Tendou and absolutely nothing else.

After practice, Ushijima found himself at a local burger joint. Honestly, the boy preferred Japanese food, but Semi had suggested American food as a fun twist for the first-years. Everyone had agreed, and that is how the ace ended up silently sitting at the end of the table full of volleyball players while sipping at a chocolate milk-shake.

“Are you not going to eat anything, Ushijima-san?” one of the first years, a boy named Shirabu, asked while taking a bite of his burger. Ushijima shook his head.

“I don’t particularly like burgers.”

“Oh,” another first year, Kawanishi, started with a look of slight panic in his eyes. “We could go somewhere else.”

“Why?” Ushijima asked, furrowing his eyebrows. “Everyone seems to be enjoying their food here.” Kawanishi gave an awkward chuckle while Semi smirked and Reon gave a light laugh.

“Don’t mind him,” Semi reassured the nervous first-year. “He can be kind of blunt sometimes, but he doesn’t mean anything by it.”

“Okay,” Kawanishi slowly replied, glancing at Ushijima before giving a sheepish smile and returning his focus to his own food.

“Hey, senpai?” the last first-year, Yunohama, said as he looked to Semi. The second year raised his eyebrows in a “what’s up” expression. “Where’s Tendou-san?”

“Ah, he, uhm,” Semi hesitantly started, looking to Ushijima with a “help me” look on his face, very apparently forgetting how bad Ushijima was at reading facial expressions. But, in some miraculous turn of events (and most definitely due to Tendou’s lessons), Ushijima got the hint.

“He’s not feeling well,” Ushijima responded as he looked at the first-year.

“Oh,” Yunohama quietly replied, his face falling a little.

“Why? Did you need to talk to him about something?” Reon asked, prodding the first-year to keep talking.

“I wanted to ask him about his blocking technique,” the first-year said with a small smile. “It’s really cool and I haven’t seen it anywhere before.”

“Yeah, me too,” Shirabu added as he grabbed his drink. He took a sip before continuing, “Tendou-senpai is an awesome player.” Kawanishi vehemently agreed, and the three first-years went on to talk about how nice Tendou had been to them since they joined the team, how impressed they were at his amazing playstyle, and how they were disappointed that he wasn’t there that night.

“We’ll make sure to bring him next time,” Reon laughed when the first-years’ praising of the red-head came to an end. Then, his eyes fell a little and a small, sympathetic smile grew on his lips. “But, just a heads up, he can be a little distant at first, so don’t take it personally.”

“Yeah,” Semi confirmed with a nod and a similar smile on his lips. “He was that way with us at the beginning. But give it some time and he’ll definitely warm up to you guys.” At Semi and Reon’s words, Ushijima furrowed his eyebrows in his usual act of confusion. Tendou was never distant with him, even from the start. In fact, they had become close friends before the start of the first summer inter-high tournament their first year. And the more Ushijima thought about it, the more confused he got as to why Tendou had warmed up to Ushijima so quickly and not the other third-years.

As the ace thought about it, Semi and Reon shared their own fun stories about the interesting and quirky middle blocker. The night continued with laughter, exchanging of stories, and talk of volleyball. Ushijima listened but stayed silent the whole while as he finished his milkshake. When he took the last sip, he suddenly thought to himself that maybe Tendou would like a strawberry milkshake to help him feel better.

That was why, about two hours later, Ushijima found himself standing outside Tendou’s door with a strawberry milkshake in one hand and a bag of medicine in the other. Ushijima gave three soft knocks at Tendou’s door. A moment later, it slowly opened and Ushijima saw a wide-eyed and surprised Tendou staring at him.

“Ushijima-kun,” Tendou chuckled sheepishly as he opened his door fully. “I told you that you didn’t need to come.” Ushijima quirked an eyebrow.

“I just wanted to check-in. Here,” Ushijima replied as he held out the milkshake and medicine. “I got these for you. It’s a strawberry shake and some medicine.” Tendou gingerly took them and gave a small smile.

“Thanks,” he said quietly. He took a small step to the side and motioned Ushijima into his room. “Wanna hang out for a little?”

“Sure,” Ushijima stated, walking into the room. He made a beeline to his usual spot in Tendou’s desk chair as Tendou closed the door shut and made to sit on the bed. As the boy took a sip of the shake and gave a wide smile, Ushijima looked around the room and took in the organized chaos.

Books were strewn about on the floor with volleyballs, and clothes were hanging off the closet door and the back of the chair Ushijima was sitting in. The ace had asked Tendou before if the red-head needed help cleaning his room, but Tendou just laughed and said that he didn’t need to since he knew where everything was. That comment confused Ushijima to no end, but the ace let it go since Tendou seemed to prefer the mess.

“Are you feeling better?” Ushijima asked as Tendou set down his drink next to him on the bed. Tendou gave a sheepish laugh.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“What was wrong before? You didn’t seem sick at lunch.” Tendou sat quiet for a moment, his eyes darting this way and that as he avoided Ushijima’s focused gaze.

“I--,” Tendou hesitantly started. He looked at Ushijima and when the ace gave a frown, Tendou dropped his head and let out a huge sigh. “I just didn’t feel like going out.”

“Oh, okay.” Tendou snapped his head up and stared in surprised at his friend. “Why didn’t you just say so?” Tendou gave a shrug and picked up his drink, twirling the straw with his finger. Ushijimi furrowed his eyebrows at his unusually quiet friend. “Are you sure you’re feeling well?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Tendou laughed, giving a small smile and taking a sip of the drink. “What did you guys talk about tonight?”

“Volleyball.” At that, Tendou smirked and shook his head incredulously.

“Just volleyball? The whole time?” Ushijima stared blankly, thinking back to what the others had been talking about at dinner as Tendou took another long sip of his shake.

“And you.”

“What?”

“They talked about you too.” Tendou furrowed his eyebrows and set his drink down with just enough force to make Ushijima raise his own eyebrows in surprise.

“What did they say?” Tendou asked, his words sounding harsh and strained.

“The first-years were disappointed you didn’t come. They wanted to talk to you about your blocking.”

“Really?” Tendou’s expression immediately turned into one of pleasant surprise, and his words became soft and light. “They wanted me to come?”

“Yes. They wanted to talk to you about volleyball. They also said that you were a great player and that they looked up to you,” Ushijima monotonously stated. He watched as Tendou stared blankly back, and it confused the ace. “Is something wrong? Are you sure you’re feeling better?”

“I’m not sick,” Tendou laughed. “I’m feeling fine.” There was a pause before Tendou continued, “Did they really say all that about me?”

“Yes.” Tendou gave a small smile and he gazed down at the drink sitting next to him. The boys sat in silence for a moment when Ushijima asked, “Did you think they would say something bad?”

“I--,” Tendou started, looking back at Ushijima. He hesitated a moment and took in a deep breath before continuing, “Maybe? I mean, people tend to talk bad about me.” There was another pause before Tendou quickly added, “Not that it bothers me. It hasn’t for a while.” Ushijima stared at Tendou as the red-head gave a sheepish chuckle, and the ace felt something bubbling up inside him at what Tendou had revealed.

“I’m sorry,” Ushijima said. Tendou furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head in confusion at the boy. “I’m sorry people talked badly about you. But no one did tonight. And even if they did, I would have stopped them.”

“You would?”

“Of course. You’re my friend.” At that, Tendou’s eyes widened and a smile grew on his lips.

“Yeah,” Tendou breathed. “Friends.” Then, it was Ushijima’s turn to be confused.

“Sorry, was I being presumptive?”

“What? No, no,” Tendou quickly replied. “I just…. I guess it’s been a while since I’ve been friends with someone other than my dog.”

“Why?”

“Well,” Tendou hesitantly started. He gave a great sigh and let his shoulders slump forwards as he continued, “I guess I just have a hard time believing anyone wants to be my friend. Back in middle school people who I thought were my friends ended up going behind my back and saying bad things about me. Apparently they were trying to cozy up to some of the popular kids at my school, so they used me to get close to them.”

“I’m sorry, why would they do that?” Tendou gave a nervous laugh.

“Because I was really tall and lanky, and people thought I was weird because of my hair and how I looked, and…” Tendou stopped and pursed his lips, glancing at Ushijima before quickly looking away. “And they found out that I’m gay.”

As Tendou explained more about what had happened. How his friends had abandoned him and spread rumors about him, especially after he was caught kissing a boy in the school’s storage closet. Ushijima listened in quiet shock, but not because Tendou had just come out to him. It was because he didn’t realize how hurt Tendou was, and he made a mental note to run extra laps the next morning for not having noticed sooner how hard it was for Tendou to make friends because the boy’s trust had been broken by his so called “friends” in the past. When Tendou finished his story, he gave Ushijima a sad smile.

“I guess that’s why I was really happy when you stood up for me and Reon against those first-years at tryouts last year,” Tendou said with a grateful gleam in his eyes.

“Ah,” Ushijima replied in sudden realization. “That’s why we became friends so easily.”

“What do you mean?” Tendou quirked an eyebrow at the ace with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Semi and Reon mentioned that you could be distant at first, but you warmed up to people over time. But that wasn’t the case with me. We became friends quickly.”

“Oh,” Tendou replied with an amused chuckle. “I guess you’re right.” There was a moment of silence as Tendou bit his lip and looked at Ushijima with a slight wince.

“So, does it bother you?”

“What?”

“That I’m… gay?”

“No? Should it?”

“Oh,” Tendou gave a sigh of relief and a small smile. “I guess not.”

The two boys talked for a bit longer about this and that until Ushijima decided to call it a night. He did, after all, have a strict sleep schedule to keep him in peak condition for training. Tendou showed him to the door (not that he had to, considering the door was literally five steps away),and as Ushijima walked out, he turned back to Tendou.

“Since we’re friends you should call me Wakatoshi.” Tendou stared in absolute shock at Ushijima’s statement.

“Really? That’s kind of something only families do.”

“And friends.”

“Yeah, super close friends.”

“I consider you close.” At that, Tendou’s mouth parted slightly and his eyes widened. When the boy didn’t speak right away, Ushijima quickly said, “Sorry, was I being presumptive again?”

“No,” Tendou replied with an incredulous laugh. “Thanks, Wakatoshi-kun.” Ushijima gave an approving nod and, at the way his name rolled off Tendou’s tongue, Ushijima realized he very much liked the sound of it because it sounded right.

The boys bid their goodnights, and Ushijima made his way into his own room, turning on the lights and moving to sit at his desk. He scootched the chair in closer and reached his hand out to grab a textbook that he had bought some time in his first year. Taking out his phone, he flipped to his photo album titled “School Flowers” then opened the book to the last page he had been studying. It was a chapter about flowers commonly found in Asia, and the first entry was about peonies.  
_____

_Year 3_

It was the end of their last year of high school. And, honestly, despite not having won nationals, things couldn’t have been better. Ushijima had been scouted by different universities as well as some Japanese professional teams. Reon and Semi had found other interests that they were fervently passionate about and hoped would turn into careers after high school. And Tendou had turned into one of the most free-spirited and wildly cheerful people that Ushijima had ever met.

Over the rest of the course of high school, Tendou had become friends with everyone on the volleyball team as well as a good chunk of the regular student body. As far as Ushijima knew, nobody talked badly about Tendou, not that anyone would have dared considering Tendou had his whole team, a large portion of the school, and the very intimidating Ushijima standing behind him the whole while. Everything was as it should have been in Ushijima’s mind. Sure, a national title would have been wonderful, but, even without it, Ushijima considered that his little garden of a life was in perfect harmony. Or so he thought because, much to his confusion, it still didn’t feel quite complete.

Ushijima was heading out of the dorms to meet with Tendou so the two could walk to morning practice together. But as he stepped outside, he saw Tendou talking to a boy from Ushijima’s class. He was giving Tendou a pink envelope and had the same color of pink on his cheeks. Tendou took the letter and gave a nervous laugh and, as Ushijima got closer, he could hear Tendou say something.

“--- have someone I like already, I’m sorry.” At that, Ushijima stopped dead in his tracks and, for some unknown reason (to him at least), he felt his chest tighten. The ace then watched as the boy gave a sad smile, thanked Tendou for being honest, then ran off towards the school building. Tendou stared down at the envelope in his hands and gave a sigh before folding it up and slipping it into his pocket. Then, he looked up and broke into a wide smile when he saw Ushijima. And when the ace saw that smile, he felt a strange emotion flood his heart.

“Wakatoshi-kun!” Tendou called out, waving excitedly as Ushijima started walking towards him. “Are ya ready for practice?” Tendou seemed to be vibrating with energy, all but bouncing on his feet while he did that crazy little dance he had come up with at their first national tournament that year. It was when the team had lost in the third round of nationals and Tendou was trying desperately to cheer everyone up, and his dance seemed to have done the trick. Ever since, he would break it out whenever he was excited or trying to make people laugh.

“Yes,” Ushijima replied with the smallest of small smiles. Tendou beamed up at him and the two started to walk towards the gym.

“I still can’t believe coach is making us practice even though the season is over,” Tendou commented, wiggling his fingers back and forth to the beat of whatever song was running through his head at that moment.

“He expects us to be a good example for the first and second-years,” Ushihima replied in his usual monotonous tone.

“I know, but I’m not even going to be playing volleyball after I graduate,” Tendou responded with a scrunched up face and pout. Then, he looked to Ushijima and gave a playful smile. “Not like you, Wakatoshi-kuuuun.” Normally the way Tendou would mess around with his name would amuse the ace, but after what Tendou said just before, Ushijima couldn’t shake the sudden sadness that settled on his heart.

“Right,” Ushijima quietly said, looking down at his feet. As he stared at the ground, he missed Tendou quirk his eyebrow and frown.

“Oh!” Tendou suddenly exclaimed. Ushijima glanced up and watched as Tendou scrambled to pull his phone out of his pocket, nearly dropping it in the process, then pressed the screen a few times before handing it to Ushijima. The ace took it and saw a picture of a cluster of purple flowers that hung down almost like a teardrop.

“Wisteria,” Ushijima automatically responded as he handed the phone back to Tendou. “Native to China, Korea, Japan, and the Eastern United States.”

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Tendou shouted, scrunching up his face in absolute annoyance. “I thought I’d gotten you that time!” Ushijima gave an amused smile.

“You should’ve picked a flower that’s not common in Japan.” At that, Tendou’s eyes widened and his mouth parted slightly in incredible shock. Ushijima quirked an eyebrow at the boy’s expression.

“I think that’s the closest thing to a joke I’ve ever heard you say,” Tendou breathed in complete awe. He broke out into a huge smile as he continued, “I guess all those lessons have finally paid off!”

“It wasn’t a joke, though.”

“Close enough!” Tendou laughed, lightly and playfully slapping Ushijima on the shoulder. “Now I won’t have to worry about you not having a sense of humor! Congratulations, you’ve officially graduated from Tendou University!”

“Do I get a diploma?” Ushijima curiously asked, confused as to why Tendou’s congratulations made his heart hurt just a little. (Dude… seriously?)

“Oh my god, Wakatoshi-kun,” Tendou started with the biggest grin on his face. “Now that was an actual joke!” He broke out into gleeful laughter as Ushijima quirked an eyebrow.

“I was being serious.” At that, Tendou fell into absolute stitches.

Practice went by in a flash. Ushijima spent the whole time demonstrating his spikes to the over zealous first year Goshiki, being praised and lauded the whole while by the boy. Tendou was joking around with the other players, much to the annoyance of their coach, and Semi and Reon were teaching some of the other first-years how to do a jump serve.

By the end of practice, everyone was fairly worn out and the third-years let the first and second-years clean up the gym by themselves. The older boys were by the gym doors, drinking from their water bottles and chatting about university and graduation. Suddenly, Semi pointed to something poking out of Tendou’s pocket.

“What’s that?” Tendou looked at the boy then followed his finger to see that it was pointing to the pink envelope in his pocket.

“Oh, this?” Tendou replied with a smile and scrunched up nose. He pulled the envelope out of his pocket and proudly displayed it. “I got a love letter!”

“Another one?” Reon laughed. “How many does that make this week?”

“Four,” Tendou stated with a determined nod. But as Ushijima listened to the conversation, he felt his chest start to tighten again as he remembered what Tendou had said to the boy who had given him the letter: “There’s someone I like already.”

“Wakatoshi?” Ushijima was taken out of his stupor by the sound of his name. He looked at Reon and quirked an eyebrow.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

“Wow, was Wakatoshi-kun daydreaming?” Tendou teased. “Was it about a girl?”

“No.” Ushijima didn’t mean for the word to come out as forcefully as it did, but it did. The ace glanced around at the shocked and confused faces of his friends, and his mind drew a complete blank on how to remedy the situation. “I don’t think about girls.” 

“He probably has volleyball on his mind all the time,” Semi laughed before taking a sip of water. The boys continued to joke about how Ushijima was a “little” obsessed with the sport while Tendou threw curious and suspicious glances at the ace the whole while, which Ushijima studiously ignored for some reason unknown to him. And only him.

The rest of the day went by painstakingly slow. Ushijima’s mind was a million miles away as he thought about both everything and nothing at all. He opted to skip his usual lunch with his friends and instead spent the time walking around the school and looking at all the different flowers planted about. As he named each one in his head, his thoughts drifted to all the time he spent with Tendou as the red-head tried to stump the ace over and over again with different pictures of flowers. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized that maybe, just maybe, he had developed feelings for his best friend. 

When he realized it, he understood why he had been so bothered by the incident in the morning with the girl, and at Tendou’s confession about liking someone else, and when Tendou mentioned that he wouldn’t have to worry about Ushijima after they graduated. Because when they graduated, Tendou wouldn’t be in Ushijima’s life anymore and, even if Ushijima were to tell Tendou how he felt, Tendou already had someone else he liked. 

“Hey, Wakatoshi-kun!” Ushijima jumped a little, startled at the sudden call of his name as he was lost in a sea of thoughts and realizations. He looked around and saw Tendou running up to him with that signature smile on his face. As the boy grew closer, Ushijima felt his heart start to pound a little harder. And it freaked him out because he had never, ever felt this way before in all 18 years of his life. “Why didn’t you come to lunch?”

“I--” Ushijima started, his mind drawing a complete blank for the second time that day. “I wasn’t hungry.”

“Are you feeling okay?” Tendou asked with a quirked eyebrow and concern in his eyes.

“Yes. I am in good health.”

“Okay, then what’s got your panties in a bunch?”

“I don’t wear panties, I wear boxers.”

“Oh my god, I take it back, you haven’t graduated from University Tendou yet.” At that, Ushijima gave a small smile and he felt a comforting warmness bloom in his chest. “So, what’s on your mind? You’re quieter than usual, and that’s saying something.” Ushijima stared blankly at Tendou, desperately trying to put two words together to form some sort of coherent response.

“My mom says that I’m as stubborn as ragweed,” Ushijima quickly responded with the first thing that came to him. Tendou furrowed his eyebrows in total confusion.

“Okay… what does that have to do with anything?”

“Ragweed is difficult to get rid of.” Tendou tilted his head to the side, beyond confused. A few moments later, his face bloomed into a classic “Ah-ha” expression.

“I’m not going to get rid of you, Wakatoshi-kun,” Tendou laughed. “If anything, you should be worried about never being able to get rid of me.”

“I don’t want to.” At that point, Ushijima was just saying whatever popped into his head and, with each random and brutally honest response, he felt his heart jump and his stomach do flips, which added to his already confused and anxious state since he never got this nervous, not even at Nationals.

“That’s good,” Tendou replied with a sheepish grin. And when Ushijima saw a faint pink spread up Tendou’s ears and cheeks, he blurted out the next thing that came to his mind.

“I have a confession.” 

“Okay?”

“I don’t actually know all of those flower facts. I bought a book about flowers in our first-year and study it every night so I can answer your questions.” Tendou broke out into amused and incredulous laughter at Ushijima’s confession while the ace stood in shock at what he had just said. 

“Why would you do that?” Tendou gasped out, doubled over in laughter.

“Because I like y-- it when you ask me questions,” Ushijima very awkwardly said and corrected mid-sentence as his brain cleared just enough to let him realize what he was about to say. 

“About flowers?” Tendou asked, his eyebrow quirked and a very noticeable redness in his cheeks.

“Yes,” Ushijima deadpanned, trying to keep as straight a face as possible as he continued, “about anything, really. I like it when you ask me questions about anything. I like...” Ushijima stopped talking, his mind once again going completely blank and his blood running cold. The boys stared at each other as an utterly and incredibly awkward silence settled between them. Ushijima didn’t think that his mind could be any more empty, but boy was he wrong. Finally, a warm smile spread on Tendou’s lips as he spoke.

“I like you too, Wakatoshi-kun. And because you can be as dense as a giant sequoia, I meant that as an I like you, like you.”

“Oh.” That was all Ushijima could say as he attempted to process what Tendou had just said. “I’m glad.” At that, Tendou started laughing again and, a moment later, Ushijima broke out into a bright smile. “There’s a greenhouse nearby where my mother gets her flowers for her store. Would you like to go with me after school?”

“It’s a date.”

Ushijima’s life was a perfectly put together garden. Everything had its place and was carefully tended for all of his life. He never thought he needed anything else. But then came a little seed that was Tendou. He was a tiny thing at first, but Ushijima was captivated by him from the start. And so, Ushijima decided to plant Tendou in his garden and take care of him, nurture him, protect him, and help him grow from the little seed he was into a beautiful bird of paradise. And, as Ushijima stood there and marveled at who Tendou had become, he realized that, all along, his garden had been missing its centerpiece, the heart.


End file.
